Listening

Why is listening to what you are saying such a rare skill?

It seems to me that there is an inordinate number of quite intelligent people out there who simply don't take the time to listen to what is coming out of their mouths. I'm not going to claim perfection, or God forbid that I have never said something stupid. But I believe that I make a conscious effort to evaluate what I say and an attempt to screen it for blatantly offensive or idiotic comments. I simply don't see the point in offending someone and not even taking the time to notice when you do it.

Now some may stop me there and say, 'what is you truly don't know when you're offending someone?' Well, that's a different matter entirely. To simply lack the understanding is not the problem, it is the lack of an attempt to evaluate and find out.

But there is another level that I am talking about here. That is the person who speaks so blatantly offensively that all listeners are stunned by said person's inability to hear their own idiocy. This is not cultural misunderstanding or language deficits. It is kindly calling someone stupid for picking a different major in school or mentioning to an Italian friend that you are pretty sure that Italians are they laziest people. It is the act of insulting someone or something and not caring to notice. Is is wrong. And so easy to fix.

Please, just listen to what you are saying.